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Address of Pope John Paul II to the Pilgrims on the Beatification of Bl. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia and 4 other Blesseds
Monday, April 30, 2001 Dear Brothers and Sisters! 1. With great joy I greet and welcome you, who have come to Rome to honor the new Blessed: Manuel González García, Marie Anne Blondin, Caterina Volpicelli Caterina Cittadini, Carlos Manuel Cecilio Rodríguez Santiago. You represent many nations, as if to reflect the extension of the testimony of these generous disciples of Christ, an extension that, by the grace of God knows no boundaries. In fact, the Church fully expresses its universal mission when he speaks the language of holiness, and more than ever to adopt this language in the contemporary era, in which the Spirit leads to a renewed proclamation of the Gospel to every corner of the earth. 2. I greet with affection all of you bishops and Spanish pilgrims who have participated with joy for the Beatification of Bishop Manuel González García, known as "the Bishop of Shrines abandoned", founder of the Eucharistic Missionaries of Nazareth and several projects aimed to spread the devotion to the Eucharist, the important for a Christian spirituality. His life was that of a pastor who was completely dedicated to his ministry, he used all the means at its disposal, the preaching, the publication of writings, the promotion of institutions for the development of Christian life and especially the testimony of an exemplary life, whose message continues to be deeply relevant. In fact, our existence would be deprived of an essential element if we had not first contemplate the face of Christ (cf. NMI, n. 16). What better contemplation of the Lord could there be than to worship and love in the sacrament of his real presence par excellence? The worship of the Eucharist is the center that strengthens the whole Christian life since the faithful, responding to the request of the Lord, "Stay here and keep watch with me" (Mt 26, 38), found in him the strength, consolation, and the firm hope the ardent charity which comes from the occult and mysterious presence, but real, of the Lord. Therefore I encourage you all to imitate the new blessed in his assiduous contact with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and present to the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the present humanity (cf. Gaudium et Spes, n. 1). At the same time, I encourage the Eucharistic Missionaries of Nazareth to be always faithful to the charism of their founder, inviting men and women of today to listen to the voice of Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life, present in the shrine. Read Full Text Here >>> |
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